Arlene Samen

Arlene Samen, has been a nurse practitioner in maternal fetal medicine for 31 years. In 2004, she left behind her University of Utah clinical practice to dedicate her life to serving pregnant women living in the most vulnerable conditions. In her travels she learned about the plight of pregnant women and newborns in developing countries and in particular Tibet, where one out of ten newborns died due to preventable causes. She organized a fact-finding mission to understand the local traditions, religious and cultural beliefs of women giving birth.

Arlene spent over the next 10 years in Tibet working side-by-side with the local government to bring a safe motherhood project to women who were poor, uneducated and living in remote mountainous areas on the roof of the world. She brought the “Network of Safety” model to women who face death in order to give life. In 2009, One Heart World-Wide took its life-saving model to remote villages in Nepal and in the Copper Canyon of Mexico.

She has received many awards, including being selected one of the 50 Unsung Heroes for Acts of Compassion in 2001, a Soroptomist Women Making a Difference Award and as a CNN “Hero” of the week in 2008. In 2009, she was a Rainer Arnhold Fellow with the Mulago Foundation and is a current member of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI). On June 4, 2011 she was a TEDxSF guest speaker.